Marketers for centuries have attempted to grasp the attention of potential consumers by using whatever technology, service or infrastructure available. Most of these techniques, however, fail to provide any long-term impact on the purchasing decisions of the consumer. One method used to attract customers is to utilize the surface of retail display surfaces or display mediums, such as counter tops, or the interior or exterior surfaces of a wall or window of a store, a door, a building, or a vehicle, etc. However, this approach generally cannot impact purchasing decisions made at home, the work place, or any other location other than the retail location where advertisement is displayed.
Another method used to attract customers is mass mailing of printed material such as brochures, catalogs, postcards, advertisements enclosed in envelopes, and the like. However, these forms of advertisement are expensive to produce, handle, and/or deliver when compared to the results they obtain. Moreover, advertisements mailed in envelopes require not only the expense of complex machinery or labor to stuff the envelopes, but postage costs can also be expensive. Mailing brochures have similar problems in that they are expensive to produce and require machinery or people to fold and secure the brochures before they are mailed. Catalogs are also expensive to produce and mail.
While postcards avoid the problems associated with envelope mailing and brochures, they have limitations. For instance, postcards are made of paper generally to facilitate writing correspondence and address information on the postcard with a pen or pencil. As a result, postcards have several disadvantages. First, there are a limited number of printing techniques available for use with paper. Second, oil, dirt and water can stain a postcard. Third, the integrity of a postcard deteriorates with handling and time. For instance, postcards may be damaged in mailing or may become dog-eared with time and physical handling. These types of advertisements also commonly lack the dramatic impact required to grasp and hold the attention of consumers necessary to influence their purchasing decisions.
Another approach to attract customers is conventional print advertising. Conventional print advertising is accomplished by printing stationary non-moveable information and pictures on magazines, newspapers, brochures, flyers, posters, billboards, signs, wrapper, boxes, etc. Many conventional print advertisements and packages do not attract the attention of customers, and are ill suited for mass mailing.
Conventional print advertising materials or devices delivered to a recipient via a delivery service may also be susceptible to accumulating or carrying biological agents, such as microbes, bacteria, fungi, yeast, molds, and the like during shipping and handling in the delivery process. Such biological agents typically develop and grow fast, and can be harmful to the recipient (depending upon the type of biological agents that accumulate on the particular advertising material or device) because they may potentially inflict disease or other biological harm upon the recipient. It would, therefore, be desirable to provide print advertising materials or a mailing device and method for making the same that at least partially inhibits biological agents from forming, accumulating or developing thereon.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide an improved advertisement device that overcomes most, if not all, of the preceding problems, and which takes advantage of the availability of direct mail delivery services for mailing advertisements to consumers, and which may further take advantage of the availability of display surfaces controlled by and frequently seen by the consumer, such as countertops, walls, windows of buildings, vehicles and the like, for advertising products and/or services.